Apparatus for carbureting air or gases for illuminating purposes



(No Model.)

W.'WEST.

Apparatus for Garbureting Air or Gases for Illuminating Purposes.

Patented Aug. 24, I880.

N PEIER3 FHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON, D C

zen of the United States, residing at Madizontal partitions c.

NITED STATES WILLIAM WEST, OF MADISONVILLE, OHIO.

I APPARATUS FORCARBURETING AIR OR GASES FOR ILLUMINATING PURPOSES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 231,635, dated August 24, 1880. Application filed March 30, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM WEST, a citisonville, Hamilton county, Ohio, have invented new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Garbureting Air or Gases for Illuminating Purposes, of which the following is a specification.

The hydrocarbon fluids ordinarily used for carbureting air or gases for illuminating purposes are composed, as is well known, of liquids of different specific gravities, of which the lighter and more volatile, and consequently richest for the purpose, are in the methods and apparatus'a't'p'resent employed generally first consumed, leaving the heavier and poorer portions as a residue practically wasted. In this use of the fluids the light produced is of a constantly-decreasing brilliancy until a fresh] supply of the fluid is put into the carbul reter and the result repeated.

It is the object of my invention to remedy this difficulty and provide an apparatus where by the hydrocarbon fluid may be preserved at a uniform gravity while being used for this purpose, thereby maintaining a light of uniform intensity until the liquid is entirely consumed.

To this end my invention consists in theimproved apparatus for utilizing hydrocarbon fluids in earburetin g air or gases, as more fully hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

My invention is embodied in mechanism illustrated in the drawings, in which Figurel is a vertical section of my improved carbureter, showing its chambers and connections. Figs. 2 and 3 are plan sections, on asomewhat reduced scale, taken on the lines as w and y 3 respectively.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts throughout the drawings.

A in the drawings is the carburetor, which is substantially of cylindrical form and divided into three main sections or compartments-B, thecondensing or purifying chamber; (J, the carbureter proper, and D, the receiving and settling tank.

The chamber 0 may be divided into any number of compartments, separated by hori- The space in each comh, and aftertraversing the entire series of channels emerges into the condensing and purifying chamber B, and thence by pipe M to the service-pipes.

I use sponge or other suitable material in the carbureting-chambers as an absorbent, which, by capillary attraction, takes up the hydrocarbon fluid, and thus exposes it in a highly-divided state to the air or gas by which it is to be absorbed, thereby more thoroughly saturating and carbureting the air or gas for illuminating purposes.

Interposed between the return-channels constituting the carbureting-chambers E are the reservoirs F, which consist, also, of returnconduits arranged transversely across each compartment between the carburetingchambers E, and communicating at each end with the exterior channel, F, in each separate compartment. 0verflow-pipes g are arranged at alternate sides of the compartments to take any excess of liquid supplied to the upper chambers into those below successively, and

'fromthe lowest of the series into the receiving-tank D.

In the present illustration of my invention the channels F are formed by side walls, f f, and a top wall, f, upon which latter the partitions 6 rest. Tight joints are made at all points of connection of the dividing-partitions, excepting where the side walls, f f, rest upon the floor of the compartment, where a narrow slit or series of openings is left, through which the hydrocarbon liquid passes into the carbureting-chambers, thus supplying them uniformly throughout their entire length. v

The height of the overflow-pipes 9 above the floor of each compartment determines the 9 ames height to which the liquid can rise any excess passing downward from one compartment to another and into the receivingreservoir D.

The form of the distributing-reservoirs is immaterial. They may be of triangular or inverted-U-shaped section, or may be pipes merely with suitable perforations, provided, however, that the communication between the reservoirs and carbureting-chambers is, preferably, at or near the bottom of the reservoirs. It is not necessary that the distributing-reservoirs should be located or arranged between the carbureting-chambers, as shown in the drawings.

The reservoirs may be arranged wholly without the carbureting-chambers, as at F, and distributing-pipes merely be employed to conduct and feed the hydrocarbon fluid to the absorbents; or the reservoirs may be arranged wholly within the carbureting-chambers, thus combining the functions of distributing-pipes and reservoirs proper.

It will be observed that the relative dimensions of the compartments and of the reservoirs and carbureting-chambers increase from above downward, in order that a greater quantity of liquid may be contained in the lower chambers, where the absorbing capacity of the air is greatest, and consequently a larger amount of fluid is required to supply the requirements of use.

H is the filling-pipe and also the pump. It extends vertically through the carbureter into the receiving-reservoir D to near its bottom. It is provided below with a valve, t, lifting upward, and at a point above the carburetingcompartment 0 is a side pipe, K, leading from the pipe H to and into the upper terminus of the distributing-conduits I.

It will be observed that in filling the apparatus through the pipe H the valve t'prevents the flow in that direction, and the liquid will pass through the side pipe, K, and thence through the reservoirs F, through the carbureter into the tank D.

In the pipe H is placed a pump-rod carrying below a piston containing an upwardlylifting valve, which thus constitutes the pipe H a complete pump. By the use of this the chambers maybe at anytime replenished from the bottom of the tank D by a few strokes of the pump-rod, and any excess find its way back again to the tank by means of its overflowpipes. This arrangement also furnishes a means of ascertaining the exhaustion of the storage-tank always before the chambers are entirely exhausted, and thus gives plenty of time for a new supply, and the capacity of the tank D being known, there need never be any excess of liquid placed in it.

A vent-pipe, L, by which airis permitted to pass out of the reservoirs in filling, is arranged alongside of the filling-pipe H, so that the plug p, which constitutes the handle of the pumptherein, 1 rod, also serves as a stopper to both pipes when out of use; or the vent-pipe may be pro vided with a stop-cock.

In the ordinary operation of the reservoirs the carbureted air passes in as the fluid passes out, thus rendering the feeding action of the reservoirs entirely automatic. I

I am aware that it is not new to arrange dis tributing-reservoirs adjacent to the carburet= ing-chambers for feeding purposes; also that an overflow-tank has been arranged in connection with the chambers of acarbureting apparatus, with pumps for restoring the hydrocarbon fluid to the apparatus; and such, broadly, I disclaim.

Having described myinvention,I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. The carbureting apparatus consisting of a closed vessel divided by horizontal partitions into a series of carbureting-chambers with a bottom reservoir, the chambers being provided with overflow-pipes communicating downward into the reservoir, in combination with a vertical pipe arranged within the yes sel and extending from near the bottom of the reservoir entirely through the chambers, provided with a lateral discharge-pipe into the upper carbureting-chamber and with a footvalve and lifting-plunger, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. In a carbureting apparatus, the combination and arrangement in one vessel of a series of carbureting-chambers, one above another, divided by suitable partitions into a substantially continuous carbureting passage and a fluid reservoir, and a storage tank beneath, with which the fluid-reservoir communicates by overflow-pipes, substantially as set forth.

3. In a carbureting apparatus, the combination of a carbureting-passage or connected series of passages provided with capillary absorbent material, a feeding-reservoir adjacent thereto throughout and communicating by overflow with a reservoir, with a pump for replenishing the feeding-reservoir from the bottom of the overflow-reservoir, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

4. The combination, in a carbureting apparatus, of a cylindrical vessel divided by horizontal partitions into a bottom reservoir, aseries of carbureting-chambers, and a condensing-chamber, the carbureting-chambers being vertically divided into a substantially continuous air-passage opening into the condensingchamber above and into fluid-reservoirs communicatin g by overflow-pipes with bottom chamber or reservoir, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM NVEST.

Witnesses:

L. M. HOSEA, E. KELIHAN. 

